Day 2 – Basel
We enter March and it is time for round two! All teams had sufficient time to digest the previous games and had worked hard to improve their tactics. Basel managed to gather a full team this time (with a special shoutout to Jantine who traveled all the way from NL to complete the team) and was looking to show that they are a force to be reckoned with when complete. At the same time Zurich 1 was determined to get even with Lausanne, while Lausanne had a few noticeable absences, but that was not going to stop them from putting on their best fight.
The day started with Basel vs Zurich 1, with a final score of 15-5 in favor of Zurich. It’s worth mentioning that this was Anouk’s debut for the season on behalf of Zurich 1, following a long recovery period, and she clearly had a lot of pent up korfball energy to release, scoring 5 goals. Karianne also scored 4 goals for Zurich, while for Basel 4 out of 5 goals were scored by an incredibly speedy Andy.
After an overwhelming victory of Lausanne vs Zurich 2 on Day 1 the story was expected to repeat itself in Basel, but this was not the case. Zurich 2 played a fierce defense, keeping the score 1-2 in the halftime, and at that point the game could end up any way. Lausanne started to get a little nervous and upped the pressure but the second half continued in very much the same manner. Nevertheless, Lausanne still finished the game on top with a score 4-2.
The same was the case for Lausanne vs Basel, with Basel as the underdog starting by leading on the scoreboard 2-0. However, Lausanne showed that it does not only rely on its starts for shooting, with two less experienced players, Koen and Elondie, getting the score back on track. Still the half time finished on a tie and had everyone wondering- could Basel really pull this off? Second half started, and again Basel started leading on the score. Basel clearly really wanted this win but Lausanne was not ready to face defeat, managing to get a tie with 10 minutes left. In the end Mounir came to save the day for Lausanne, scoring the final shot of the game and giving his team the victory with 6-5.
After this impressive performance against Lausanne, Basel was looking to continue in this manner against their rival, Zurich 2. However, despite offense normally being a weak spot for Zurich, this was not the case that day, with multiple players making successful shots and finishing the first half 5-1. The offensive power slowed down in the second half, allowing Basel to catch up with the score a bit, but the game still finished 6-3 in favor of Zurich 2.
Zurich 2 also made its mark in the game vs Zurich 1, keeping the score at a reasonable 5-2 by halftime. However, Zurich 1 picked up the pace in the second half winning the game by 11-3.
The final big match up of the day, Zurich 1 vs Lausanne, well, let’s just say it had a bit of a different vibe compared to the previous round. Zurich showed an incredibly strong offense across the team with a total of 8 players putting their names on the scoreboard, while Lausanne seemed to struggle, leading to a final score of 13-2 in favor of Zurich 1.
Following these somewhat unexpected performances of the day, teams were either looking to celebrate or put that day behind them, which was achieved by getting some drinks and dinner at Basel’s food court, before everyone headed back to their base. However, one thing was certain – The countdown to the final had started, with Zurich 1 facing off Lausanne for first place and Zurich 2 facing off Basel for 3rd in just one month’s time!!!
